Metamorphosis
by Drauph
Summary: Chrona has been with Ragnarok for as long as she can remember.Time changes everything.But what does it take, for her to finally emerge as her true self?  Anime,2 years after Kinshin, New weapons and witch, Many pairings M/F,CronaxRagnxKid main characters
1. Prologue: Lazy Days

PROLOGUE

Lazy days

-And that concludes this lesson, I guess...-

The students began to gather their things as fast as they could yet their 'dear' professor wasn't willing to let them slip that easily.

-Heh, also you will give a 1000 word essay about how the weapon's abilities can limit the meister and vice versa, and thaaaat's it!-

He pushed himself back, skidding across the floor stylishly before reaching the door, where his chair met an abrupt stop, making him fall so hard if it wasn't for the fact he already had a screw running through it, his head would've been cracked open. He smiled crookedly as his old students passed him by, a small stick protruding from where he would usually place his cigarette. His students passed over his body and walked on, there were **weirder** things at Shibusen...wait, ok maybe he was really weird.

A hand pulled his chair from under him, flipping it upright and then turning it. A bold looking teen sat on it backwards, just like the stitched professor had been doing only a few seconds ago. Grinning and flashing his shark-like teeth in his best cool-guy pose that hid his eyes from view was SOUL EV-

MAKA CHOP!

The poor white haired teen fell flat on his back with a new ATM slot freshly installed onto his skull.

-Baka...-

She muttered, as she tried to help the professor to his feet. The guy seemed a little dazed, either for the fact she was helping him or the fact that she was being so gentle with him, when only two seconds ago she'd slammed a 458 page history book into a guy's head. That was Maka for you. He took his chair and promptly sat on it, his head lowered creepily as he analyzed the strange relationship before him.

Ever since the defeat of the Demon god Kinshin, Maka and Soul were closer to each other, yet while in Shibusen they remained the same obnoxious brats everyone knew and loved. A ruse, he'd seen them lately, when they though no one was looking, they could be so amiable...so secretive. Something was going on, he'd seen the intense way Evans looked at Albarn, yet she seemed to be in some sort of denial...It would be so lovely to just interfere...create a little chaos and stand back to enjoy the consequences...they should already be connected enough so that any conflict would bring them closer together...

-Stein, your tea!-

-Good morning Marie-sensei!-

-Hello Maka, Soul. I see you've earned yourself another 'maka-chop'-

The gentle blonde woman placed a tray atop the desk and walked over to the professor, calming his soul and chasing away any cold thoughts, even making his features ease a little into a pleasant expression. She handed him his tea and bowed as a greeting to the teens before her. Now a little older and quite wiser, the weapon and technician evoked in her such pride she almost felt like their parent.

She greeted the small figure that almost seemed to be hiding in the corner next to the door, waiting for her friends. A shy bow and a lopsided smile as a response and then they were separate, that wall that always kept that delicate figure apart from the world, rising suddenly. With her one eye Marie could see the nervous expression melt into one of concentration. With her heart she felt the child struggling to overcome her shyness, yet _he _never let her.

-What do you want, Zigzag woman! Were fine Ok!-

-Hello to you too, Ragnarok- she tossed him a caramel thinking of how childish he still was, even though the intensive training with his meister had almost returned his body to its original, more muscular appearance... well, except his hands, that still remained digit less mittens...

Licking his huge teeth savagely he grinned madly before making a half challenging, half greeting gesture and dissolving into liquid once more. Stein shook his head distractedly and gulped down the last of his tea, Marie taking the cup without even looking at him and placing it on the tray. She was so aware of him all the time, he couldn't help but feel a little like a child she was taking care of, yet un-admittedly, he enjoyed the attention. Dropping his head onto the chair he allowed himself a smile as he thought of some way to surprise her later.

The students said goodbye and headed out. After a long day in school, greeting some new students and doing their homework in Maka and Soul's house, the group of friends headed down to the park, for a game of basketball. Again a little bickering ensued over Chrona, for the simple reason that Ragnarok would sometimes butt-in which would result in either really good things or really bad things...it all depended which team had the most candy...

He'd pop out of the thin girl's back and steal the ball, dunk it and make rude gestures before she even realized what had happened, the game would end quickly once he joined and Chrona, distracted as always would not know half the things he did. They were almost winning, their team made up of Kid, Liz and Chrona overcoming the other four, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki and Paty. Though most of the game was played by Kid, since Liz didn't want to break her nails, Chrona would make a few plays, cheered by Maka who watched from a nearby bench. Due to her height, Chrona had quite the advantage, yet her awkwardness usually lead to some tripping and a few falls.

But the star was Ragnarok, and pretty soon Black Star got into a tizzy for being out-staged in 'his own' court, so much so that not even Paty's goofy antics wouldn't cheer him. He challenged the demon sword to a one on one...or two on one. Soon they were tied, Ragnarok's height and strength, combined with Chrona's flexibility and agility competing with Black Star's great speed and mad skills. It was a close match until Ragnarok took Paty's hat and while she was distracted he seized his chance and went for her boobs. Chrona tripped and fell hard against a bench, having tried to push away the near indestructible weapon.

Blood dripped down from her temple and left a little mark upon the bench corner, but she was used to pain. Keeping her composure she got up, shook the dirt off her clothes as the other's approached her. She bowed and offered Paty an apology managing to only stutter about five times, a new record. Yet the short blonde was focused on getting her hat back and didn't seem to mind. Once Black Star calmed, having won the match while everybody was distracted, he walked over and stared down the huge figure looming over the skinny body of the Demon Sword wielder.

He stared him off, his X'd out eyeballs oddly brighter than usual. As the bickering began, with an awkward Chrona in the middle a shout broke through.

-Ne, If you like Paty just say so! TEME! At least I have more guts that you monkey-boy, I say everything to your face! COWARD! GWEEEEHG- (he stuck his huge tongue out rudely and made a vulgar arm gesture)

A stirring silence followed...not a sound...the world had ended...not really, yet they all stared at the monochromatic figure that began to feel a little uncomfortable. He held the rude gesture and tried not to seem insecure, yet the glances coming from all the people around him made him feel...nervous...More importantly the monkey hadn't even returned the insult, he just frowned stupidly, his mouth hanging limp. Even Paty stopped her 'hat song' to stare at him.

-OOoooo! Look at his funny hand! Hee,hee, hee. Funny Ragnarok has a stubble!- She chortled.

He couldn't take it, seeing as even Chrona had lifted her head from her embarrassed pose and craned her slight neck to look at him. Her gasp was a little ragged sound and he couldn't take it anymore, gulping he looked down. His little X eyes crossed in the middle of his face, staring down the strange protrusion that stuck out of his hand. He shook his hand this way and that, a little panicked yet once he stopped he looked down to see something strange... He seemed to stare for such a long time...the seconds dragging by as painful as nails across a chalkboard. The sun had started drooling as it tried not to fall asleep, drifting closer and closer to the horizon...and all he could do was stare.

It had been two years and a half since he'd last seen his hands.


	2. cp1 The crooked smile of the moon

CHAPTER ONE

The crooked smile of the moon

Chrona awoke from yet another nightmare. They were less frequent now yet she'd still have one every night. She awoke five times on average, whether it was Ragnarok's pranks, her insomnia or just her nightmares about Medusa-sama, she couldn't reconcile sleep as easily as she should. The nights were always more peaceful in Shibusen, especially since Kid had given her curtains for her room, hiding the bloody grin from the laughing moon at night and keeping the sun's pants at bay during the day...and also to hide the cracks in the walls that made them so...what was that word he kept muttering in disgust?...Asymmetrical...

She smiled, un admittedly she liked to see Kid's hysterics, yet was too withdrawn to provoke his OCD. Snaking a thin hand under her pillow she pulled out a soft piece of fabric, an embroidered handkerchief. Simple and of course symmetrical, her blood stains broke the 'clean and perfect' beauty of the fabric. She smiled slightly, a sideway tug on the corner of her lips, the logo of the Shinigami was embroidered on all four corners.

o0o0o0o

After they all sat around the table and ate some snacks the din started, they all congratulated Ragnarok, who accepted the complements and attention with pleasure. Chrona was his silent shadow and she sat still in silence trying to move away from the crowd but unable to.

-Chrona, is everything alright? You haven't eaten.-

Polite and poised he moved towards her trying to see beyond the shadows that covered her lowered face. Meanwhile everybody laughed boisterously, giggled or just smiled. Tsubaki giggled with Maka as they ate the cookies Soul had made earlier. Soul sat his feet propped on the couch were the girls sat, in his best uninterested pose yet smiling at all those people around him, his best friends. Paty was forcing her hat on a reluctant Black Star that in the end let her have her way, his blush visible even against his tan skin, earning another round of laughter.

Chrona muttered something yet Liz passed behind the chair she was in; yelling at Ragnarok for eating her favorite nail polish, trying in vain to strangle his huge neck that just gave away beneath her hands, turning into liquid, as he grinned madly with his pink spotted teeth. Kid's eye started twitching once he saw that Paty's nails were not finished, her left hand's three last fingers were still natural color! Yet he contained himself when he noticed Chrona's face, half covered in dried black blood. Without thinking he took his handkerchief from his back pocket and extended it to her.

She looked up completely clueless, so he took a water bottle from the table before them, ignored Liz's tantrum heroically as she went to Maka's room to use her nail polish instead. Moistening the fabric with the liquid he leaned down and slowly, carefully he approached her. She looked at him with big, deer-in-headlights, ice blue eyes; frightened it seemed that he would hurt her. Preposterous, she was more capable of hurting him than the other way around... He paused, let her relax and then carefully tapped away at the blood until her face was clean once more. Wiping away one last droplet he distractedly brushed her hair out of her forehead with the side of his hand...to get those...those...asymmetrical locks away...far, far away before the urge to fix them would overcome him.

-Oi teme! OCD dude! That is my property you're touching!... besides I could have just absorbed that blood before OK? Keep your perfectionist hands off Chrona before I make her kick your skinny a-

-Ragnarok, chocolaaaate~

The piece of candy flew across the room and was captured by a slobbering red tongue...and just like that the conflict was forgotten. Kid shook his head slightly, the absurdity of the matter striking him as comical. No matter how nasty were the things that came out of Ragnarok's mouth he could never see anything past his beautiful symmetry, he sometimes found the consequences of his obsession laughable. He turned to leave yet something stopped him...

-A-arigatou Shinigami-san...- Chrona was hunched so strangely you couldn't really tell she had actually stood from the chair. Her thin frame crooked by her nervousness her extended hand shaking copiously holding out a bloodstained handkerchief.

-It's fine. I haven't really used it and, right now, you need it more than I do. _Keep it_- The last words came out gently, he didn't want to frighten her. Now that he understood her past a little, he figured she deserved some friends to treat her well...make up for all the time that mad woman took away...

o0o0o0o0o

Chrona let the fabric brush her cheek and felt strangely comforted. Here in her home...she felt as if all the things that had happened before were worth it...just to be here with her friends. She was one of them, they treated her so nice. _They cared about her..._ Ragnarok stirred within her before ripping his way out her back. He made for the white little thing inside her palm. Stunned into standing still Ragnarok stared unbelieving at the clenched fist that had become Chrona's hand. He was perplexed at her determination, her fear quivered deep in her soul, yet there was something more, over-riding the trembling; it was courage, determination. He tried to keep his façade but at this point in time that wasn't necessary anymore. He tugged at her hair and loomed over her, his upside-down X'd glare meeting her unwavering crystal eyes.

-Bed, NOW...baka...we have training to do tomorrow. If you're not rested I'll kick your ass so fast it won't even be fun anymore-

She blushed, gratefulness emanating from her very pore.

-Ha-HAI!...Ragnarok...-

-Mn?-

-Arigatou...-

As she rolled on to her side cupping the handkerchief between her lithe fingers, Ragnarok took the bed sheets and threw them carelessly over her, covering her, head and all. She wiggled out until her eyes were peeking above the gray sheets. Her eyes arched upward smiling, yet he pretended not to see them as she curled up into a ball and he loomed behind her body wrapping her shape in his shadow until she finally drifted off to sleep...and for once her dreams weren't that bad.

The laughing moon wiggled evilly in the sky, slowly falling into the horizon as a silhouette stood by the window. Staring at the monochromatic figure that loomed over the sleeping girl. He leaned down, closing in to kiss her hair yet pulled back fast and instead he placed the sheets over her and made sure she was snug and warm before fading into her bloodstream once more.

The dark silhouette wiggled with silent laughter, opening its eyes from under the brim of a great hat, shining yellow, two glimmering coins...gone in a second with a swish of her furry tail.

As the pink haired Demon Sword wielder drifted into the dream world, not far from there the son of the death god awoke groggily. He thought he'd already checked...yet the thought didn't let him sleep...had he closed the closet doors perfectly? Was the toilet paper folded correctly? Was the book shelf too far left? What about his shoes- AAAAARGH!

He screamed mentally as he rubbed his hair fast enough for his fingertips to ache, he was too exhausted to get up from the bed yet...NO...this had to stop, his mind hadn't been working properly because of lack of sleep. How could he become a real Shinigami if he kept letting every detail slow him down...it frustrated him to no end...yet he couldn't help himself, it was something that overcame his sense of reason. He tried to think about something...anything symmetrical to ease his urge...His beautiful guns! So shiny, shooting symmetrical bulle- Their breasts are uneven...GYAAAAA! He rubbed his hair furiously, probably fast enough to light a small fire... That's it! His father's mask!...yet the rest of him...Oh well, he still loved him anyway...wow he really loved him...(The image of his unstable body filled his head)

Then an image of Ragnarok appeared in his head...easing all his troubles. He'd never seen a weapon so symmetrical once transformed or in original form. Without mentioning the fact he could probably transform into just about anything! A number eight! The prefect number! Somehow both images jumbled in his head and still managed to look symmetrical...He was in heaven. The excitement was such his heart was racing yet it calmed him from his previous anxiety. He put his hands on his stomach laying perfectly in the center of his bed, on his back, the image of perfection yet not of comfort.

Symmetry or no he lacked the comfort he kept wanting for inside the beauty of perfection...but things were rarely perfect unless he made them so. Would this mean he would spend the rest of his eternal life as a Shinigami trying to make the world perfect? He would never, he could never be able to fully attend to his people's needs if thoughts about the angle of the picture frames at home would distract him so easily. He needed to give his all to his duty, not to his obsession...yet how to escape something that comes from within? 

His mind kept wandering, drowning in mid-sleep and the usual worries that kept filling his head more with each passing day. Scenes of the day began to jumble in his mind as his body was slowly claimed by sleep. Ragnarok, so perfect...under his shadow a face peered into his. And he was filled with a strange warm sensation, the feeling he briefly experienced once he fixed something and made it symmetrical, that ephemeral feeling he kept seeking inside perfection...finally he felt comfort. Yet it faded into sleep as he did, his hand drifting from his tight pose until it touched the white lines in his hair as if to scratch them. In the morning he would remember nothing...that face was the last thing he saw before losing his body to Morpheus, oddly jagged frame containing a symmetrical face, yet that didn't seem to matter. Symmetry or no...comfort truly was beautiful.

_To be continued..._


End file.
